Improvement in apparatus for cutting ice



J. T. MARTIN. Apparatus for Cutting Ice.

No. 205,970. Patented July 16, 1878.

UNITED STATES PATENT OEEIoE.

JOSEPH T. MARTIN, OF NEWARK, NEW JERSEY.

IMPROVEMENT IN APPARATUS FOR CUTTING ICE.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 205,970, dated July 16,1878; application filed April 11, 1878.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, J OSEPH T. MARTIN, of Newark, in the county of Essexand State of New Jersey, have invented a new and useful Improvement inIce-Gutters, which improvement is fully set forth in the followingspecification and accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is a planview, and Fig. 2 a longitudinal section on the line of m.

The object of my invention is to more rapidly cut ice in the ice-fieldsin preparation for harvesting the same, which I do by means of a boat,A, made to move on the surface of the ice; or, indeed, it may move inthe water, but ordinarily the former.

The boat is propelled by an engine placed within it; and to the front ofthe boat is attached a frame, B, in which a shaft, 0, is made torevolve, and on this shaft is hung one or more circular saws, D-perhapsusually twofor cutting the ice; and on the same shaft are hung two ormore propeller-wheels, E, made with sharp teeth to catch in the ice, andin their revolution to set the boat forward and keep the ice-cutters upto their work.

The motion is communicated to the shaft 0 from the boat by theconnecting-belt F; or the same may be done by a gear or crank.

At the rear end of the boat is a rudder, G, made to extend below theboat into the water, where it is drawn along, having the blade enteringinto the kerf made in the ice by the saw; and this rudder is used tosteady and guide the motion of the boat and the cutters. In this way oneor more long strips of ice may be cut from the field at a rapid rate, tobe readily marked up into blocks for storing, and very much of time andexpense be saved in. harvesting ice.

I do not claim, broadly, an ice-boat having engaging toothed Wheels tocatch into the ice. Neither do I claim a boat with saws hung to a framein front of it, for these are not new, the latter having been used in anice-breakin g boat for removing ice obstructions. But an ice-cutterhaving the saws and propellers on one shaft and rudder, one or morefitted to operate in the saw-kerf, to prepare ice for harvesting, isbelieved to be new, and it adds an important machine for the gatheringof ice. Therefore,

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. The cutters D and propellers E on the same shaft, working in theframe B, secured to the front of the boat A, by which propellers theboat is moved forward, substantially as and for the purpose specified.

2. The combination of cutters D and propellers E, on the same shaft,With the boat A and rudder Gr, substantially as and for the purpose setforth.

JOSEPH T. MARTIN.

Witnesses:

HORACE HARRIS, ABEL HENNING.

